1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a blood counter, and more particularly to an apparatus for counting blood cells by distinguishing between erythrocytes (red blood cells are abbreviated as RBCs) and thrombocytes(blood platelets are abbreviated as PLTs) readily and correctly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, use has been made of an automatic blood counter wherein the cells of blood are irradiated with laser beams while they are made to pass successively to cause the light to scatter, and the scattering intensity and the transit time are used to distinguish between blood cells (the Japanese Patent Laying-open No. 30694/1980). In addition, an apparatus using the electric resistance method (the so-called COULTER method) is also in use.
Although the detection of leukocytes (white blood cells are abbreviated as WBCs) in the conventional apparatus poses no problem because they are detected independently of RBCs and PLTs by adding a hemolytic agent and the like to destroy the latter, the disadvantage is that RBCs and large PLTs, both of which are almost the same in size, cannot be distinguished with sufficient accuracy.
It has accordingly been proposed to mathematically process them for distinguishing purposes; however, the problem is that it tends to make the arrangement too complicated.
There has not yet been proposed a blood counter utilizing absorption of light by hemoglobin in the RBC.